Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Fails: "Efforts to repeal the death penalty in Maryland were dealt an apparently fatal blow yesterday when a key state Senate committee defeated the measure, leaving a court-ordered moratorium on state executions in place and some legislators weighing a study of the issue," Jennifer Skalka reports in the Baltimore Sun.

The ‘Ol Wait and Bait. In Saturday’s Washington Post, Allison Klein reports that D.C. police have been using items such as laptops and cell phones in hopes of catching a thief who had been breaking into cars on Capitol Hill and surrounding areas. Police have been using bait cars to respond to the numerous amounts of break-ins this year, which has increased 26% from last year. Michael Timberlake happened to be one of the fish caught using this technique. Police are trying to determine whether Timberlake is responsible for other break-ins targeting cars with ipods, cameras and computers.

San Diego Cracking down on Gang Crime. Union Tribune’s staff writer, Kristina Davis, reports law enforcement agencies across North County are teaming up to stop gang crimes, primarily, robberies, assaults and homicides that cross city lines. In the most recent operation Friday night, police searched the streets of San Marcos for gang members. They made ten felony arrests and six misdemeanors arrests. Two of the men arrested, one with a semiautomatic handgun, were near the campus of Cal State San Marcos.

Private Prisons in Cal.
Yesterday in the Sacramento Bee, an article written by Andy Furillo reported that Gov. Schwarzenegger's administration wants the Legislature to approve a new deal with GEO Group Inc. for a five-year contract. The private-prison firm will receive $67 million dollars. If passed, the proposal will give the company a 50 percent increase for officers’ minimum wage from $10 to $14.70. Private-prisons only cost $60 a day per inmate compared to the cost of state prisons, which is $118 per inmate. GEO Western Region Vice President Ed Brown says the contract will also increase funds for food, health care, and more inmate rehabilitation programs.

New Law: Texas expands inmates access to phones
A story by Diane Jennings in the Dallas Morning News reports that inmates are only allowed five minutes on the phone with their loved ones every three months. Emmett Solomon, executive director of Restorative Justice Ministries Network, says, “The critical factor about whether an inmate succeeds after prison is their connection with their family.” The new technology will have a biometric identifier (voice recognition) to only landline phones that are on an approved list. This technology eases the concerns for victim advocates. The new law will allow 120 minutes a month per inmate. Michelle Lyons of TDCJ, says, “Phone privileges offers an incentive to offenders to behave.”

Colorado law does not require evidence to be saved
Los Angeles Times reporter DeeDee Correll writes about a bill that will make law enforcement save DNA evidence in major crimes for the length of the inmate’s sentence. The bill came about because the Colorado state senator heard of the Clarence Moses-El case. He was serving a 48-year sentence for a 1987 rape, when a detective destroyed the rape kit and the victim’s clothes, even after a judge ordered it to be preserved, before DNA testing could be conducted. If this law passes, it will allow a new trial for prisoners whose evidence was destroyed prior to their sentence ending, despite judge orders.